Use this conference as a local Internet water hole–a cyberlounge if you will–a place to hangout, order food (whatever you prefer), and communicate with your instructor and fellow students on a broad range of topics of mutual interest beyond the instructional content of the course. The only request I have is that the rules of online etiquette are observed and you honor the student Code of Civility and Code of Student Conduct.

PART 1: INTRODUCTIONS
Welcome to CMST 301! I would like to use this opportunity to introduce myself to you and for you to introduce yourself as well. When you finish reading this topic, please use the “Start a New Thread” button at the top of this window and answer ALL 6 questions listed below in the text box provided.

NOTE 1: You are NOT required to make a post in this conference until the first day of class, but feel free to respond early if you like.

In addition to any personal information you may want to share, please include the following in your introduction:
01. Academic Status (Freshman, Junior, etc.)?
02. What do you prefer to be called (e.g. Rob vs Robert)?
03. Major course of study (e.g. Digital Media and Web Technology, GRCO, English)?
04. What are your expectations for this course?
05. What is one thing the class should know about you?
06. Is this your first course at UMUC?
07. Where do you reside (State, Country, etc.)? You do not have to be specific if you have any concerns providing detailed information.

PART 2: WEEK 1 DISCUSSION
WELCOME to the discussion for WEEK 1. Please respond in complete sentences for each question, unless directed to do otherwise, demonstrating in your reply that you have read the material in order to receive full credit. There are two topics in Part 2 (please respond to both).

Topic 1: Digital Media

This week, you watched Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier Chapter 1: Distracted by Everything and Chapter 2: What’s It Doing to Their Brains?

Discussion:
Professor Turkle believes that students are wrong to think that a “multi-tasking learning environment” will help them succeed as students. She believes that in order to learn certain things, we need to be still, quiet and focused on one thing at a time.
Question #1:
Do you agree with the professor’s opinion? Is it possible to learn while multi-tasking? Why or why not?

Topic 2: Digital Media’s Impact on Society

Discussion:

Jack Lule, the author of Understanding Media & Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication, explained how different technological transitions have shaped media industries.

Question #1:

How has technological developments in radio, television, the Internet, OR newspaper (SELECT ONE) influenced mass communication? Support your response.

Minimum Topic Response:  Word Count = 70 (per topic). Your response is required to be AT LEAST 70 WORDS long.  If your reply for this question is less than 70 words, you will lose points. You can use Microsoft Word to count the words in your response to make sure you have met the requirement.
NOTE 2: Please make sure you answer EACH item and LABEL each item (#1, #2, #3, etc) so that I can easily check that each item has been answered.
NOTE 3: Please do not attach a file to the conference–enter your reply into the text area provided.
NOTE 4: After you post your response, please review it to make sure it is formatted correctly and is easy to read.

Week 1 Due Date
NOTE 5: This discussion will be closed SUNDAY 11:59 PM | EASTERN TIME (ET). Please post any comments directly in the conference and not as an attachment.

WELCOME to the discussion for WEEK 2. Please respond in complete sentences for each question, unless directed to do otherwise, demonstrating in your reply that you have read the material in order to receive full credit.

Topic 1: Social Media

This week, you watched Social Media Revolution 2018 #Socialnomics.

Discussion:
As you review the multiple statistics that display in Social Media Revolution 2018 #Socialnomics, assess the impact of social media in your life.
Question #1:

What role does Social Media play in your life? Are you aware of the social media policies of the organizations where you work, attend school, or volunteer? Have you used social media to resolve problems, participate in a cause you are passionate about, or to learn about UMUC? How does Social Media impact your personal and professional communications?

Topic 2: Digital Humanitarianism

This week you also watched How Mobile Phones Power Disaster Relief by Paul Conneally.

Discussion:
Conneally mentioned that the humanitarian model has barely changed since the early 20th century and that its origins are firmly rooted in the analog age.
Question #1:
Do you see a major shift from analog to digital in the humanitarian model? If so, what are the driving forces behind this shift?

Topic 3: Cognitive Surplus

This week you also watched two Ted Talks given by Clay Shirky: How Cognitive Surplus will change the world, and How Social Media can make history.

Discussion:

Clay Shirky argues that the history of the modern world could be rendered as the history of the ways of arguing where changes in media change what sorts of arguments are possible.

While news from Iran streams to the world, Clay Shirky shows how Facebook, Twitter and TXTs help citizens in repressive regimes to report on real news, bypassing censors (however briefly). The end of top-down control of news is changing the nature of politics.

Question #1:
Please discuss ONE topic of either Ted Talk that stood out to you.

Minimum Topic Response:  Word Count = 70 (per topic). Your response is required to be AT LEAST 70 WORDS long.  If your reply for this question is less than 70 words, you will lose points. You can use Microsoft Word to count the words in your response to make sure you have met the requirement.
NOTE 1: Please make sure you answer EACH item and LABEL each item (#1, #2, #3, etc) so that I can easily check that each item has been answered.
NOTE 2: Please do not attach a file to the conference–enter your reply into the text area provided.
NOTE 3: After you post your response, please review it to make sure it is formatted correctly and is easy to read.

Week 2 Due Date
NOTE 4: This discussion will be closed SUNDAY 11:59 PM | EASTERN TIME (ET). Please post any comments directly in the conference and not as an attachment.

WELCOME to the discussion for WEEK 3. Please respond in complete sentences for each question, unless directed to do otherwise, demonstrating in your reply that you have read the material in order to receive full credit.
Topic 1: Fake News

This week, you watched Christiane Amanpour & Chris Anderson How to Seek Truth in the Era of Fake News (TED Talk video):

Discussion:
Amanpour mentioned that she wished that the proliferation of platforms upon which we get our information meant that there was a proliferation of truth and transparency and depth and accuracy.
Questions

• Explain at least two ways fake news could affect the results of future elections or may have affected the recent presidential election?
• What are three ways you can verify articles and images to avoid being fooled by fake news?
• What can companies like Facebook and Snapchat do to stop users from spreading fake news? What can we, as consumers, do? What do you think would work, especially with younger users?

Topic 2: The Decline of the Newspaper Industry

This week you read “Current Popular Trends in the Newspaper Industry” by Jack Lule

Discussion:

It is clear that the newspaper industry has undergone major changes. Over the next several years, the industry will likely continue to experience a complete upheaval brought on by dwindling readership and major shifts in how individuals consume news. As newspapers scramble to find their footing in an ever-changing business, readers adapt and seek out trustworthy information in new ways.

Question #1:

Pick a recent major national event that interests you. Then, select two papers of the six discussed in the reading and explore the differences in how those newspapers reported on the story. How does the newspaper’s audience affect the way in which a story is presented?

Minimum Topic Response:  Word Count = 70 (per topic). Your response is required to be AT LEAST 70 WORDS long.  If your reply for this question is less than 70 words, you will lose points. You can use Microsoft Word to count the words in your response to make sure you have met the requirement.
NOTE 1: Please make sure you answer EACH item and LABEL each item (#1, #2, #3, etc) so that I can easily check that each item has been answered.
NOTE 2: Please do not attach a file to the conference–enter your reply into the text area provided.
NOTE 3: After you post your response, please review it to make sure it is formatted correctly and is easy to read.

Week 3 Due Date
NOTE 4: This discussion will be closed SUNDAY 11:59 PM | EASTERN TIME (ET). Please post any comments directly in the conference and not as an attachment.

WELCOME to the discussion for WEEK 4. Please respond in complete sentences for each question, unless directed to do otherwise, demonstrating in your reply that you have read the material in order to receive full credit.
Topic 1: Copyright

This week you read about copyright and some of the laws governing digital rights management.

Discussion:

Copyright protection is available for original works of authorship that are fixed in a tangible form, whether published or unpublished. The categories of works that can be protected by copyright laws include paintings, literary works, live performances, photographs, movies, and software.

Question:

Make an argument for or against the following statement: “Copyright is the only way for musicians, artists and filmmakers to protect their integrity.  What’s important is not profit, but protecting creative content from unfair use. Copyright should remain an important part of our law”. Justify your response with support from the reading.

Topic 2: Customer Location Data

This week you read the article “Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint Suspend Selling of Customer Location Data (web page).

Discussion:

Verizon, AT&T and Sprint will no longer share its customers’ location information with several third-party companies who failed to handle the data appropriately.

Question:

Do you agree with phone companies sharing their customers’ information with third party companies? Why or why not? Support your answer.

Topic 3: The Curly Fry Conundrum

This week you watched The curly fry conundrum: Why social media “likes” say more than you think by Jennifer Golbeck.

Discussion:

The goal of Golbeck’s Ted Talk presentation is to make people aware that (a) data is being collected about you, (b) companies are profiting from this data, (c) you don’t have a lot of power to prevent your data from being collected, and (d) you SHOULD have control over how your data is being used and who is using it. She also brainstorms ways users could regain control of their data through the legal system or by having companies modify their data collection policies.

Golbeck’s discussion of Target is very relevant. Target is renowned in the industry for its data collection practices.  Target maintains a customer relationship management database which includes information from in-store purchases (they link all of your purchases to a unique identifier) and data they collect externally (e.g. data from Facebook and other sources).  Combine the two data streams and Target can predict, with very good certainly, what your gender is, where you live, how far you travel to work, your relationship status, and they can even tell if you are pregnant, and if so, when you are due. The amount of money spent each year in pregnancy-related purchases is tremendous. In efforts to win the market share in this profit area, Target has hired a team of statisticians to perform predictive analysis. The goal, in this particular situation, is to predict which women are expecting (or soon to be), without asking them directly, by analyzing their purchasing behavior (e.g. cribs, baby clothes, prenatal vitamins, etc). This way Target can “target” this particular demographic (with coupons, discounts, and other offers) early in the process, thus getting a jump on the competition. Golbeck mentioned an example where a father stormed down to Target to complain about his young daughter receiving pregnancy-related coupons in the mail only later to find out his daughter was pregnant.

Question:

What are your thoughts about companies collecting data about you? Do you feel this type of data collection is a beneficial or detrimental? Why? Do you feel you have a right to know what data companies are collecting about you? Does this concern you as a consumer?

Minimum Topic Response:  Word Count = 70 (per topic). Your response is required to be AT LEAST 70 WORDS long.  If your reply for this question is less than 70 words, you will lose points. You can use Microsoft Word to count the words in your response to make sure you have met the requirement.
NOTE 1: Please make sure you answer EACH item and LABEL each item (#1, #2, #3, etc) so that I can easily check that each item has been answered.
NOTE 2: Please do not attach a file to the conference–enter your reply into the text area provided.
NOTE 3: After you post your response, please review it to make sure it is formatted correctly and is easy to read.

Week 4 Due Date
NOTE 4: This discussion will be closed SUNDAY 11:59 PM | EASTERN TIME (ET). Please post any comments directly in the conference and not as an attachment.

WELCOME to the discussion for WEEK 5. Please respond in complete sentences for each question, unless directed to do otherwise, demonstrating in your reply that you have read the material in order to receive full credit.
Topic 1: Data Visualization

This week you watched David McCandless Information is Beautiful http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/ infographic, where McCandless discussed the beauty of data visualization

Discussion:

David McCandless turns complex data sets (like worldwide military spending, media buzz, Facebook status updates) into beautiful, simple diagrams that tease out unseen patterns and connections.

Questions:

1. What ideas or pieces of information does the author present? List as many as you can.
2. Identify the main conclusion told in the graphic. This should not just be the title, but what conclusion you can make from the information provided.
3. Describe how the author represents data in the graphic. Example, using color to represent two things.
4. What other ways does the author tell the audience about the key message(s)?
5. What do you like/dislike about the graphic?

Topic 2: Infographics

Discussion:

An infographic is a visual representation of information, data, or knowledge meant to present complex information quickly and clearly. Infographics exist on nearly any topic you can imagine, proliferating in the digital age with social media.

Question #1:

Locate an infographic which relates to ONE of the topics covered within this course: (no more than two postings related to the same topic will be permitted) 

Responses will need to include, but are not limited to:

• Title of Infographic (if not available then subject it relates to)
• URL
• Detail how the Infographic relates to the topic
• Analysis and recommendations for adjustment

Minimum Topic Response:  Word Count = 70 (per topic). Your response is required to be AT LEAST 70 WORDS long.  If your reply for this question is less than 70 words, you will lose points. You can use Microsoft Word to count the words in your response to make sure you have met the requirement.
NOTE 1: Please make sure you answer EACH item and LABEL each item (#1, #2, #3, etc) so that I can easily check that each item has been answered.
NOTE 2: Please do not attach a file to the conference–enter your reply into the text area provided.
NOTE 3: After you post your response, please review it to make sure it is formatted correctly and is easy to read.

Week 5 Due Date
NOTE 4: This discussion will be closed SUNDAY | 11:59:59 PM EASTERN TIME (ET). Please post any comments directly in the conference and not as an attachment.